European Open: The trademark fist punching thin air doesn't solely belong to Tiger Woods at all; it's the possession of Phillip Price too, when he is transformed from a grey, mild-mannered golfer into a frenzied one with reason to celebrate a holed-out putt for something tangible, writes Philip Reid at The K Club.

His fist-pumping wee jig is something to behold, as we've discovered.

In less than a year, this personality trait has been revealed twice. We saw it on the 16th green at the Belfry last September, a time when we'd wondered if Price, a cool, calm and grey-haired Welshman, possessed a pulse so composed was he in inflicting singles defeat in the white-hot arena of the Ryder Cup on Phil Mickelson, a player more than 100 places above him in the world rankings.

And, yesterday, we witnessed it again. Not only does Price possess a pulse, he also has a winner's instinct, which has not always been apparent in his 14-year career on tour. On this occasion, his three-foot birdie putt on the 18th green of The K Club's North Course brought him huge personal rewards.

His victory in the Smurfit European Open - giving him a cash prize of €481,245 - was his third on the European Tour, and first outside of Portugal, as he became the season's sixth wire-to-wire winner and moved to sixth place on the money list.

"That's where I belong, where I want to be," he confessed.

On another overcast but dry day, with the Sunday pin placements putting an onus on approach play and limiting the birdie and eagle assault on the course to such a degree that the 10 players who handed in 68s were the best of the day, Price held his nerve.

A final round 70 for 16-under-par 272 gave him a one-stroke winning margin over Mark McNulty, a player defying his 49 years on this earth, and Scotland's Alastair Forsyth, taking his third top-five finish of a season in which he has yet to miss a cut.

For much of the final round, Price, who started with a three-shot lead over a group of five players, was on his guard. Only intermittently did he come under threat. Early on the final round, Darren Clarke lurked with menace, only to deceive. When Clarke rolled in a 30-footer for eagle on the fourth - to move to 14-under, having previously birdied the second - he was tied with Price, and it looked as if the stroll had become more than a race; it hinted at a real battle.

It wasn't to be, though. Clarke had manoeuvred his way into contending for a title he won two years ago, but even as he assumed the attack position, he felt his game was not where it needed to be to sustain the challenge.

"I knew in the back of my mind I wasn't hitting it well enough," he later claimed, adding: "I knew I was going to have to struggle, and that's the way it turned out."

Indeed it did, and Clarke's challenge, such as it was, effectively disappeared around a part of the course that brings the River Liffey and its tributary streams into play. When he missed the green on the sixth, the short game that had galvanised his challenge finally deserted him and he failed to get up and down from rough to save his par. On the seventh, he attempted to punch in his approach to the green but came up short, in the water. And on the eighth, his nine-iron tee shot was pushed into the river. Three holes, three bogeys, and suddenly Clarke was back where he had started, three adrift of Price.

After that, Clarke couldn't buy a birdie putt and reeled off eight successive pars before again finding water on the 17th off the tee, where he got "too greedy", but, ironically, one of his few good iron shots came with his fourth shot, which he almost holed, and a short tap-in enabled him to escape with a bogey.

Just as it seemed he was slipping out of a top-five finish, Clarke unleashed a huge drive over the dogleg on the last, hit his seven-iron approach to 45 feet and holed the putt for a finishing eagle, which left him with a 71 for 12-under-par 276, and tied-fifth.

As Clarke moved from main player to a bit role, others took up the chase. McNulty, who went around without a bogey, was one of those who brought in a 68; but it wasn't enough to overtake Price. Forsyth was another to sign for a 68; again it wasn't sufficient to thwart Price, who stuck gamely to his task.

Along the way, Price got the breaks that all champions get. On the 12th, after finding a greenside bunker, he holed out with his sand shot for a birdie two - his third birdie in five holes, moving him to 16 under.

Coming in, Price had to show his mettle. As playing partner Angel Cabrera fell to pieces over the closing stretch - finishing bogey, bogey, bogey, double bogey - Price overcame a duffed chip on the 14th, which led to bogey, and a missed two-footer on the 17th, which led to another and put him level with McNulty and Forsyth, to prove the winning knack had not deserted him.

His play of the par-five 18th, with the crowds gathered all along the right of the fairway and by greenside, was the stuff of champions. Unsure if he had enough club to carry the water with a five-iron and 225 yards to the flag, he chose a four-iron.

"The lie was a bit down and I knew I was going to struggle to stop it. It was always going to go to the back of the green with that lie," said Price. Which is precisely what happened. However, he chipped to three feet and, taking his time over the putt after missing a shorter putt on the previous hole, calmly holed out for the biggest win of his career.